Building Bridges to Understand Fishing Communities & Fisheries

Description: MSCVAFF works to address the immediate and long-term needs of the Vietnamese-American fishing communities that have been adversely impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. With this award, the project team plans to connect scientists with multi-ethnic fishing communities in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi to encourage a two-way information exchange. Scientists will benefit from the traditional ecological knowledge that they learn from fisher folks, while fisher folks will learn about ecosystem research and data collection methods from their academic research scientist partners. By encouraging cooperative research that connects these two groups, the project team hopes to inform scientific research and fisheries restoration priorities with more comprehensive information about coastal ecosystems and to develop solutions to address chronic challenges that fishing communities face.

Building Industry Engagement within the Gulf of Mexico Alliance to Increase Impacts to Regional Efforts

Description: GOMA in cooperation with Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, and Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Overview: GOMA is a regional ocean partnership created by the five Gulf state governors with a goal of enhancing the ecological and economic health of the Gulf of Mexico through increased regional collaboration. With this award, the project team plans to engage and build relationships with business leaders in industries connected to the Gulf’s coastal and marine environments. By encouraging more participation from these sectors in GOMA, the team hopes to facilitate the exchange of science-based knowledge, tools, and experience among government, industry, and other regional stakeholders. This exchange could improve resource management, encourage more science-based solutions to coastal challenges, and result in more accessible data available to more users.

Building Organizational Capacity through a Community-Based Citizen Science Program for Monitoring Environmental Contamination in Louisiana Coastal Parishes

Description: BISCO’s mission is to build a powerful, multi-faith, multi-ethnic, multi-issue organization that serves as a voice for the people of Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes in southeastern Louisiana, as well as Grand Isle in southern Jefferson Parish. With this award, BISCO and its partners plan to train coastal Louisiana communities to use citizen science to monitor the environment for contaminants. They intend to pilot a training program designed to develop a citizen scientist network and create sustainable avenues for communication, collaboration, and knowledge exchange. Through community-led citizen science, BISCO and its partners hope to build BISCO’s capacity and enhance community health and resilience in ways that promote equitable cross-boundary collaboration, foster scientific literacy, and encourage community-based action around environmental risks.

Building Scientific Literacy and Resilience through Community Citizen Science in the Gulf of Mexico

Description: Public Lab seeks to change how people see the world in environmental, social, and political terms by teaching them how to investigate environmental concerns using inexpensive, do-it-yourself techniques. With this award, the project team proposes to build a community citizen science network of Biloxi, Mobile, New Orleans, and Pensacola residents who can collect and use data to enhance environmental protection and increase community resilience. Through a series of workshops, Public Lab team will encourage communities to engage in collaborative approaches to prioritizing and answering local environmental questions. Over the course of this project, Public Lab will work to encourage collaborative learning and civic engagement via community-led scientific exploration and investigation.

CoastWatch for Action: Engaging Alaska Teachers, Youth and Community in Preparedness & Response to Coastal Hazards & Climate Change

Description: The Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies works to foster responsible interaction between people and their natural surroundings and to generate knowledge about the unique marine and coastal ecosystems of Kachemak Bay through science-based environmental education and stewardship. With this award, the project team will develop materials to educate youth and adults in Alaskan coastal communities about the effects of oil spills and other coastal hazards related to climate change. The team plans to train teachers in Alaskan coastal communities and build a network that connects responders and community preparedness professionals with educators and their students. This project is designed to build capacity in communities that have few resources to address the growing risk of coastal environmental hazards. The team anticipates that the project will foster environmental stewardship and encourage teachers and students to apply scientific concepts to real-world challenges.

Enhancing Community Resilience by Linking Conservation and Restoration with Coastal Hazards Risk Reduction via the FEMA Community Rating System

Description: TNC works to conserve the lands and water on which life depends. With this award, TNC and its partners plan to work with three Gulf of Mexico communities to develop tools that can help them identify and select projects that restore habitats, enhance coastal resilience, and earn FEMA community rating system points that reduce flood insurance rates. TNC and its partners will share case studies and lessons learned from this process via GOMA’s Coastal Resilience Team and TNC’s Coastal Resilience Network. They anticipate that this project will increase communities’ capacity to make strategic investments in natural solutions that help protect them from storm and flood impacts. This work could benefit coastal communities in the Gulf of Mexico and across the United States.

Expanding Coastal Community Capacity for Climate Change Adaptation

Description: GOMA is a regional ocean partnership created by the five Gulf state Governors with the goal of increasing regional collaboration to enhance the environmental and economic health of the Gulf of Mexico. As part of this mission, GOMA is working with the Gulf of Mexico Climate and Resilience Community of Practice (CoP) to expand its capacity for addressing coastal resilience issues. The CoP is a network of coastal communities and outreach and extension professionals working together to adapt to climate change in the coastal zone through the exchange of ideas, opportunities, and expertise. With this award, project team members plan to work on key environmental and economic challenges associated with flooding. They will develop a survey for CoP members to prioritize actions for community project implementation, form working groups, collaborate with local communities to execute next steps, and develop video case studies to share best practices and lessons learned. This project is intended to help coastal communities become more resilient by pairing climate scientists with practitioners, local decision-makers, and other technical experts to solve real-world problems related to coastal flooding, saltwater intrusion, and climate communication.

Making Monitoring Matter: Breaking Down Barriers to Interdisciplinary Collaboration in the Houston-Galveston Area

Description: The mission of the Galveston Bay Foundation is to preserve and enhance Galveston Bay as a healthy and productive place for generations to come. With this award, the project team plans to implement a water-monitoring action plan that will provide local stakeholders and policy makers with access to long-term ecological datasets for Galveston Bay. By communicating this information to the greater Houston community, the project team hopes to help address chronic and acute challenges that Galveston Bay faces, including oil spills, shipping traffic, development, commercial fishing, and climate change. Working with local partners, the team will extend its regional network while fostering scientific literacy, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration, and communicating the value of Bay-wide monitoring efforts.

Strengthening Gulf Coast Resilience by Engaging, Educating and Empowering Vulnerable Populations

Description: Franklin’s Promise Coalition is a regional community coalition that works to enhance residents’ quality of life in Franklin County, Florida, by improving access to services, eliminating disparities, addressing unmet needs, promoting positive youth development, and providing leadership during disasters. With this award, the project team plans to engage people from two sectors—the seafood industry and underserved youth—in environmental stewardship and disaster readiness activities, with the goal of strengthening coastal resilience in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi. By participating in science literacy, leadership, and training activities, the team anticipates that project participants will return to their communities better prepared to help their neighbors become more resilient to disasters and environmental change. The team plans to evaluate what effects these individuals have on their peers using social network analysis.

Supporting the Isle de Jean Charles Community Resettlement Through Cross-Boundary Networks and Knowledge Synthesis

Description: Based in the bayous of Louisiana, the Lowlander Center is a nonprofit organization supporting lowland people and places through education, research and advocacy. With this award, the project team plans to develop cross-boundary networks of professionals and experts to support the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw as the community resettles from southeastern Louisiana to land that is less environmentally vulnerable. By pilot-testing an approach that synthesizes scientific, professional, and community knowledge—as well as outreach and educational activities—the project team hopes to create a model that other coastal communities can adapt to address the social and environmental challenges that they face.

Sustainable Solutions During Disaster

Description: Lifelines Counseling Services works to facilitate positive changes in individuals, families and communities in Mobile and southwestern Alabama by providing comprehensive education, referral and counseling services for social, emergency and financial problems. The project team plans to use this award to provide disaster-related trauma and mental health training for community members, mental health professionals, and social service providers; to support a train-the-trainer model to sustain this network over time; and to partner with the University of South Alabama to develop mental health trauma training courses in existing undergraduate and graduate programs. Through this project, Lifelines Counseling Services will work to increase community resilience and reduce the stigma associated with seeking mental health services in southwestern Alabama.

Using Island Institute Cross Boundary Connections to Build Disaster Preparedness in Maine and Beyond

Description: The Island Institute works to sustain Maine's island and remote coastal communities, and exchanges ideas and experiences to further community sustainability in Maine and beyond. With this award, the project team plans to partner with coastal communities to determine the risks they face from storms and sea-level rise and the strategies they can use to increase their resilience. Working with a network of 150 participants, the team will create multimedia case studies, provide community-based support and training, and share project impacts and lessons learned through national networks. The team’s goal is to ensure that fishing communities in Maine and beyond can continue to make their living from the sea.

Preserving Our Place: A Community Field Guide to Engagement, Resilience, and Resettlement: Community Regeneration in the Face of Environmental and Developmental Pressures

Host a Goal Setting Workshop

Workshop: Draft an Issue Brief with a Group

Host an Issue Brief Workshop

Issue Brief: Sedimentation in the Florida Panhandle

Water Quality Testing at Turkey Creek

LaMotte and Earth Force Low Cost Water Monitoring Kit

Hurricane Harvey Industrial Impact Image Sorting

Africatown Blueway-Public Lab NAS Workshop, Prichard, AL

Mapping Workshop at Docville Farm in Violet, LA - St. Bernard Parish

Pensacola Stormwater Issue Brief

Accurate Soda Bottle Rain Gauge

Educating a New Generation of Advocates

Recharging New Orleans: Rain Barrels and Environmental Justice

Fighting the Flood: Community Activism and Education in Pensacola

The Africatown Connections Blueway: Legacy and Rebirth

Sustain the Nine: Resilience in the Lower Ninth Ward

Water Monitoring Team Webpage

Hurricane Harvey Impacts on Water Quality and Galveston Bay Dolphins Poster

Galveston Bay Foundation Overview of Team Poster

Galveston Bay Foundation Water Quality Year in Review 2017 Poster

Galveston Bay Foundation Water Quality Year in Review 2017 Summary

Harvey Infographic

Bacteria Testing Infographic

Galveston Bay Report Card Presentation

Harvey Impacts Presentation

Public Meeting Presentation

Water Monitoring Team Training Presentation

Sea Level Rise Symposium - 2 - Communicating Vulnerability

Sea Level Rise Symposium - 1 - Coastal Hazards 101

Sea Level Rise Symposium - 5 - Adaptation Options

Sea Level Rise - 4- Case Studies

Communities of Practice Priorities Survey

Texas Living Shorelines Resource Catalog

Louisiana Living Shorelines Resource Catalog

Mississippi Living Shorelines Resource Catalog

Alabama Living Shorelines Resource Catalog

Florida Living Shorelines Resource Catalog

Living Shorelines Two-Pager: Environmental Consultant, Engineer, Landscape Architect

Living Shorelines Two-Pager: Installer, Contractor, Supplier

Living Shorelines Two-Pager: Property Owners

Living Shorelines Two-Pager: Realtor, Property Developer

Living Shorelines Two-Pager: Resource Manager, Land Use Planner

Living Shorelines: A Contractor's Perspective

Living Shorelines: An Environmental Consultant's Perspective

Living Shorelines: A Property Owner's Perspective

Working to Improve Community Rating System Scores in Covington, Louisiana

Improving Stormwater Drainage in Covington, Louisiana

Enhanced Floodplain and Stormwater Management in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana

Coastal Resilience: Orange Beach, Alabama Communicating Risk

2019 Climate and Resilience Community of Practice (CoP) Meeting Recap

The Discovery of the Clotilda and the Community 'Still Fighting'

Notes and Reflections from Hurricane Preparedness Discussion/Dinner

Compile Screenshots and URLs for Aerial Images of Harvey Damages in a Spreadsheet for Reporting

Rain Barrel and Rain Gauge Build workshop with 7th Ward Residents

Community Incentives for Nature-Based Flood Solutions: A Guide to FEMA’s Community Rating System for Conservation Practitioners

Community Incentives for Nature-Based Flood Solutions

CRS Explorer App on the Coastal Resilience Decision Support Tool

Sustainable Solutions After Disaster - Final Report 2019

Community Collaboration to Advance Citizen Science: A Success Story in Louisiana

Evaluating the Effectiveness and Feasibility of a Citizen Science Training in Enhancing Community Health and Organizational Capacity in Disaster Response and Recovery

Sea Level Rise Symposium - 3 - Secondary Impacts

WQ Research Assistant Models